Creative waterproofing helps a desert rose bloom in doha

The National Museum of Qatar, set to open in December 2018, was designed by famed architect Jean Nouvel to be a new cultural landmark along the Persian Gulf. Inspired by crystallized minerals forming a rosette growth pattern, the design closely resembles a cluster of gypsum rosettes—commonly referred to as desert roses—sprouting organically from the ground and fanning around the Fariq Al Salatah Palace.

Composed of a series of interlocking saucers of varying dimensions, angles, and curvatures, Jean Nouvel’s design is not your traditional rectilinear structure. With construction underway, the specified water-proofing and fireproofing solution didn’t hold up on the building’s facade and soffits. After testing a number of options with the original supplier, Construction Manager Hyundai Engineering & Construction knew that the building’s unique geometry required an unconventional technical solution to bring its design to life. They reached out to Siplast for expertise in delivering a solution that could work with the design and material selections while also standing up to stringent waterproofing benchmarks and fire safety protocols mandated by the State of Qatar Ministry of Defense.

After visiting the site and witnessing the failure of the original waterproofing material, Siplast’s Technical Export Manager Daniele Piccardi knew that there was only one solution: liquid waterproofing. “[Hyundai Engineering & Construction] looked at me like I was crazy, insisting that the waterproofing had to be a membrane as specified by the architects. But they had tried for six months to get the original solution to work and it kept falling down. Since they had to stop construction for so long, they decided to let us test the liquid solution on the mockup in Dubai and it worked!”

Liquid waterproofing defied expectations and proved itself the only solution that worked with the material selections and climate.

Siplast’s Sealoflex Pink Coat products were used to cover nearly 45,000 square meters of surface area, allowing the design and material selections to remain as originally intended and stand up to the climate for years to come.

I started to become passionate—I wanted to find a solution.

Daniele Piccardi, Siplast’s Technical Export Manager

“When we visited the construction site, it was very tense. You had teams that had been working on this project for 10 years who suddenly had to come up with a brand new solution very quickly,” said Piccardi. “I started to become passionate—I wanted to find a solution, because for six months they had to completely stop construction until we found the right product. I was thrilled when our liquid solution was the only one that stood up to the tests.” Siplast’s innovative waterproofing solutions are expanding the possibilities of functional design and moving the industry forward through iconic projects like The National Museum of Qatar.